Ventas’ (VTR) Q4 FFO Meets Estimate, Revenues Beat

Have you been eager to see how Ventas, Inc. VTR performed in Q4 in comparison with the market expectations? Let’s quickly scan through the key facts from this Chicago, IL-based healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) earnings release this morning:

In-line FFO

Ventas came out with normalized funds from operations (FFO) per share of $1.03, meeting the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Ventas has a decent surprise history. Before posting the in-line Q4 FFO, the company delivered positive surprises in two of the trailing four quarters. In the other occasions, the company posted in-line results. This is depicted in the graph below:

Overall, the company surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by an average of 0.73% in the trailing four quarters.

Revenues Came In Higher Than Expected

Ventas posted revenues of $895.3 million, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $878.6 million. Further, it compared favorably with the year-ago number of $875.7 million.

Key Developments to Note

During the year, Ventas funded investments of around $1.8 billion. It also realized approximately $700 million for the sale of 36 of its Kindred Healthcare, Inc skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).

The company exited the quarter with lower cash and cash equivalents. However, it currently has borrowing capacity of over $2.7 billion.

Ventas expects its 2018 normalized FFO per share outlook in the range of $3.95 – $4.05.

The company anticipates same-store cash net operating income growth of 0.5–2.0% in 2018.

What Zacks Rank Says

Ventas has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). However, since the latest earnings performance is yet to be reflected in the estimate revisions, the rank is subject to change. While things apparently look favorable, it all depends on what sense the just-released report makes to the analysts.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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